Best Time

Best months to visit a place

Mumbai sight-seeing – Juhu Beach and ISKCON Temple (Part 1)

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Juhu Beach is a gastronomic paradise of snacks like Bhelpuri, Chuski ice balls dipped in syrup, Pani Puri, Pao bhaji etc. On weekends people throng the beach and enjoy horse rides, dancing monkeys, acrobats, balloon sellers, toy sellers and many other types of beach amusement. You can even indulge in shopping by buying souvenirs made of sea shells and other trinkets.

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Majestic Ladakh : The Journey Begins!

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Now let’s begin the journey. Yes it starts with this prologue. For me, the journey actually began much before I stepped into the land of Kashmir to enter into Ladakh.

The Chinese philosopher, Lao-Tzu, said, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” It is true for travelling to the top of the world, Ladakh! The first step undoubtedly would be to know a little bit about Ladakh.

It started, for me, four months before I actually travelled the region- through numerous articles, blogs and travel stories. Before going to Ladakh it was much essential for me to know about the places to go and activities to do in Ladakh, its history, culture, religious institutions and the mystics.

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Road to Chandratal

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We reach Kunzum jot, slightly off the main road and where vehicles take a customary loop to offer prayers. It is an overcast morning…. has continued to be so since Losar. More clouds come rolling in and almost obscure the Stupas at Kunzum Jot. Behind the Stupas and to their right, the track is clearly visible going to Chandratal. As our three vehicles halt there, we see no sign of the advance party. After mulling our options, we decide that one vehicle will go down the Kunzumla towards Batal and check out the motorable road to Chandratal since that is the only other place the other Scorpio could be. Sure enough, in a while we get a message from a tourist vehicle coming from Batal that our two Scorpios are at the motorable road and for us to join them there.

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Chandrataal – the Moon Lake

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As we moved ahead, we crossed more and more nallahs. To our surprise they were even more dangerous now. The water flow was huge, it was so violent, we thought as if we were going to flow away with the water down to the Spiti river.

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Spiti…. journey through ‘The middle land’

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Bypassing such quaint villages as Yangthang, Chango and Leo, we press on for Nako. I have great hope that the cloud cover will disperse enough for Reo Purgyal, the highest peak in Himachal to be visible. Unfortunately, the peaks are all shrouded in thick clouds. We have a very long way ahead and no time to tarry. We do not even swing by Nako Lake consoling ourselves that we would see the Chandratal anyway today and hurry ahead. Far, far below us is the meandering Spiti and the beautiful Leo village is visible low down across the valley.
The route takes us through barren, crumbling mountainsides and the presence of a BRO detachment alerts us to the proximity of the Malling Nallah stretch which is infamous for being a perpetual landslide zone. It does not disappoint. We cross the Malling Nallah and come to a halt behind two other vehicles. A JCB is busy clearing an enormous few ton boulder in the landslide while a steady rain of shooting stones continues. It is scary, to say the least. I guess the BRO knows how dangerous it is and has concluded that this is minor enough for the work to continue. Hats off to these sentinels of the roads in these remote areas!

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हिमाचल डायरी : रेणुका जी झील और पाँवटा साहेब की तरफ… भाग 4

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झील शब्द तो स्वयम में ही स्त्री लिंग है, इसलियें रेणुका नाम तो अपेक्षित है, परन्तु पूरे रास्ते भर हमे जो भी साइन बोर्ड दिखे, सभी पर झील का नाम रेणुकाजी लिखा हुआ है, हमे आश्चर्य तो है, परन्तु इससे एक अंदाजा भी लग जाता है कि सम्भवतः इसका कोई धार्मिक कारण अवश्य होगा, परन्तु इसके मिथकीय इतिहास से अभी तो हम सर्वथा अनभिज्ञ हैं, हमने तो केवल इतना भर सुना था कि इसकी आकृति एक लेटी हुई महिला सरीखी है और इसके काफी बढ़े हिस्से पर कमल के फूल खिलते हैं |

इधर हमारी यात्रा जारी है और अब जिस जगह पर पहुंचे हैं, वह परशुराम और रेणुकाजी का मन्दिर है | एक ही प्रांगण में रेणुकाजी के मन्दिर के साथ ही परशुरामजी का मन्दिर…, मस्तिक से स्मृति का धुंधलका मिटने लगा, याद आया कि रेणुका जी तो परशुराम की माता जी थी, कुछ हमने याद किया, कुछ इस मन्दिर से पता चला, तो कुल मिलाकर जो जानकारी इकट्ठी हुई, उसका सार कुछ इस प्रकार है-

हिमाचल के इसी पर्वतीय क्षेत्र के जंगलो की कंदराओं में ऋषि जमदग्नि अपनी पत्नी रेणुका के साथ एक आश्रम में रहते थे | असुर सहसत्रजुन की नीयत डोली और ऋषि पत्नी रेणुका को पाने की अभिलाषा में उसने ऋषि जमदग्नि का वध कर दिया | रेणुका ने अपने सत की रक्षा और दुष्ट असुर से बचने हेतु स्वयम् को जल में समाधिष्ठ कर लिया, बाद में परशुराम और देवतायों ने असुर का वध किया, और ऋषि व रेणुका को नव जीवन दिया और फिर ठीक उस जगह से एक जल धारा फूटी जिससे इस झील का निर्माण हुआ | मिथक कुछ भी हो, परन्तु आस पास के क्षेत्र के निवासियों में इस जगह का धार्मिक महत्व है और वह इस दंत कथा को मानते भी हैं इसका सबसे बढ़ा ज्वलंत प्रमाण तो यह ही है कि स्थानीय निवासी जब इस झील में नौका विहार के लिये जाते हैं तो अपने जूते-चप्पल किनारे पर ही उतार देते हैं |

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Memories of Mewar (III): Udaipur, City of Lakes and Palaces.

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After visiting the Kumbhalgarh Fort, Ranakpur, the Krishna Temples at Kankroli and Nathdwara, and the Sajjan Garh Palace, we were now on the last leg of our trip to Mewar, Rajasthan, and had two full days to take in the beauty of Udaipur, the City of Lakes and Palaces. This beautiful city is also sometimes referred to as the ‘Venice of the East’, ‘Most Romantic City of India’ and ‘The Kashmir of Rajasthan’.

Udaipur was the capital of the kingdom of Mewar, ruled by the Sisodia clan of Rajputs. The founder of Udaipur was Maharana Udai Singh II, father of Maharana Pratap. Udaipur was founded in 1559, when a hermit blessed the king and asked him to build has palace at a spot on the east ridge of the Pichola Lake. In 1568, the Mughal emperor Akbar captured Chittaurgarh, and Udai Singh moved the capital to the site of his new residence, which became the city of Udaipur. As the Mughal empire weakened over the years, the Sisodia Maharanas recaptured most of Mewar district. Udaipur remained the capital of the state, which became a princely state of British India in 1818.

After India’s independence in 1947, the Maharaja of Udaipur acceded to the Government of India, and Mewar was integrated into India’s Rajasthan state.

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Destination Pooh…(Kinnaur, Himachal Pradesh)

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The route winds along the Sutlej going upstream along its left bank. Crossing the Sutlej over the Shongtong brige, we reach Powari. Here, the road bifurcates left to Recong Peo, the administrative headquarters of Kinnaur district, some way up the mountainside and the highway (NH 22) continues along the river. Further up from Recong Peo is Kalpa (earlier called the Chini village) and the highest village further up is Roghi from where one can get stunning views of the venerated Kinner Kailash peak. I’ve heard that the route to Roghi with narrow, cliff hugging roads is one of the most amazing sights and rewarding places to visit. In fact Chini village, now Kalpa, has some more significance in independent India. The people of this village were the first to cast their votes in independent India on 25 October 1951 (since they get snowed in in winter) while the rest of India voted in Dec-Jan. Further back in history, the old Hindustan Tibet highway used to pass through this place on its way through Shipkila into Tibet.

It is said that Kinner Kailash is the abode of Lord Shiva and is thus considered sacred by the Hindus. Legend goes that Bhasmasur, after getting a boon from Lord Shiva that anybody on whose head he places his palm would be turned to ashes, tries it on the Lord himself. The Lord hides from him and prays to Lord Vishnu at this place after which Lord Vishnu comes to his aid and slays the demon. The Shivling is visible atop this Kinner Kailash peak.

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Memories of Mewar (II): Kankroli, Nathdwara, and Sajjan Garh (Udaipur).

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The temple of Shrinathji at Nathdwara is among the most sacred places of worship for the followers of Lord Krishna. The idol is made of black stone and is said to have been brought here from Mathura in 1669 to protect it from the marauding Moguls under Aurangzeb’s rule.

The temple opens its doors to the public for worship seven times a day for just about half an hour each, and there is a huge crowd always waiting to rush in. Inevitably there is some pushing and jostling and you barely get a minute for darshan before you are pushed out to the exit, just like in a Mumbai local train. This makes the whole experience quite unpleasant, and the temple authorities should take the initiative to organise it in a better way. Some touts promise to get you in through the VIP channels, but they only serve as paid guides, and can do nothing when the push becomes a shove.

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An awesome trip to Ahmadabad

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A very peaceful On a quiet stretch of the Sabarmati river is the Gandhi Ashram set up in 1917. During the lifetime of Mahatma Gandhi it was known as Satyagraha Ashram and was the center of India’s freedom movement. It was from here, in 1930, that the Mahatma began his famous “Dandi March” to the sea to protest against the Salt Tax imposed by the British. ‘Hridaya Kunj’, the simple cottage where he lived, is preserved as a National Monument.

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Memories of Mewar (I): Kumbhalgarh and Ranakpur.

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The fort is built on a hill at a height of 1100 metres and requires a considerable effort to climb to the top. But once you are in the palace at the top of the fort, also known as ‘Badal Mahal’, you are rewarded with awesome views of the forested Aravalli hills, with the Mewar region on the eastern side and Marwar region on the west. The forests surrounding the fort comprise the Kumbhalgarh Wildlife Sanctuary which is home to leopard, sloth bear, monkeys, wolf, jackal, sambar, peacock, jungle fowl and a host of other birds and animal species.
[caption id="attachment_94003" align="aligncenter" width="640"]Badal Mahal. Badal Mahal.[/caption]

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